


What are Best Friends For?

by Blink_Blue



Series: Tumblr Prompts (Coliver) [19]
Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Connor and Oliver are best friends, Connor gets a flat tire, Connor keeps "platonically kissing Oliver", M/M, Mutual Pining, Oliver goes through a break up, but the truth is Oliver is just being dense, mentioned death of a grandparent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 17:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7900903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blink_Blue/pseuds/Blink_Blue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connor and Oliver have been best friends since the beginning of college. After an incident senior year, in which Connor "helps" out his friend with a kiss, he just won't stop doing it. And Oliver is left very confused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What are Best Friends For?

“UGH, Connor! Gross!”

Connor cackles obnoxiously as he pulls away from the other man. Okay, so maybe the kiss was a bit wetter than it had to be. Maybe it was a bit longer than necessary as well. But seeing Oliver moan and groan while furiously wiping his cheek with his sleeve always makes it worth it.

“Why?! Why, Connor?! Why do you always insist on—” Oliver cuts himself off with an exasperated shake of his head. He should know by now that he’ll never get a straight answer out of his friend. Not a sensible one anyway. He sighs. “I’m guessing the date went well?”

Connor nods, a stupid, giddy grin on his face. “We had a great time. Typical dinner and a movie. Some hand stuff in the theater,” he says with a wink, to which Oliver responds with an eye roll. “And then it was back to his place for… you know.”

“Oh god!” Oliver groans and begins furiously wiping his cheek again. “Where has your mouth been?!!” He moans.

Connor snorts. “Come on, Ollie. This was last night. I showered before coming over. But just because you asked, my mouth was _everywhere_.”

“Ugh, keep it to yourself please,” Oliver groans. “I don’t want to know about your sexcapades!”

Connor smirks, but there’s a fondness in his gaze as he watches the other man. “Thanks for setting us up,” he says seriously.

Oliver raises an eyebrow. “So, does this mean there’s going to be a date number two?”

Connor straightens in his seat and holds his hands up in defense. “Whoa, I don’t know about that…”

“What?” Oliver gapes at him, confused. “You just said—”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was great. But I don’t think we’re about to go steady or anything. He’s a nice guy,” Connor says with a shrug. “But you know I’m not trying to settle down.”

“I… guess so,” Oliver says softly, if only a bit dejectedly as well. After four years of knowing the man and three years of living together, it’s safe to say he should be used to Connor’s antics by now. They met when they were assigned as random roommates at the university—Connor’s first year, Oliver’s second. After a rough and tumble first few weeks (Connor kept bringing guys over to their tiny little dorm room in the dead of night) somehow they actually managed to hit it off. And they’ve been inseparable ever since.

And maybe, just _maybe_ Oliver may have developed a bit of a crush on his best friend. At first it was _so_ easy to hate him. Connor is devastatingly gorgeous. He goes home with a different guy every weekend, and also manages to get perfect grades. But he’s also a slob. His side of the room would be littered with dirty clothes, books, and empty food containers. And somehow, despite spending the late hours of every evening either in the library or with some random guy of the week, without fail he would get up at the crack of dawn to go for his morning jog. Which meant every time Connor got changed in their room, Oliver would end up either cursing him in jealousy or his own penis for taking notice of it.

Connor’s personality also left something to be desired. At first anyway.

It turns out, the sanctimonious, asshole, _holier than thou_ attitude was just a facade. And underneath it all, was a genuinely nice guy. It was around the time of Oliver’s first midterm, and his stress was at an all time high because he also had a paper due that same week. A late night of studying meant he had completely neglected dinner. And Connor came back to their room with a plate he had smuggled out of the dining hall and an energy drink. Oliver hates energy drinks, but the sentiment was nice.

As the years passed, and they moved from dorm to bigger dorm to apartment, and people came and went in their little group of friends, Connor and Oliver’s weird little friendship became the one constant that everyone could rely on. And Oliver always knew that Connor would never return his feelings. No. Definitely not the guy who ‘doesn’t do boyfriends’. But it’s nothing to cry over, and Oliver’s grateful to have his friendship.

So as time went on, every once in a while, Oliver would introduce some guy to his best friend. Like Pax from his econ class. A guy good looking enough to placate Connor’s shallow side, but never someone that he’d fear would be a personality match for Connor. He hasn’t had much to worry about on that front, in all the time that he knew him, the other man had never actually dated anyone. Just a steady stream of random hook ups. And Oliver helping him out on that end is just him being a good friend. And in no way, is it any form of self torture. Definitely not.  

After all, it’s just a silly crush. Oliver is so used to it by now, that he barely notices it’s there. Barely.

“You got anything to eat? I’m starving!” Connor jumps to his feet. But before Oliver can answer, Connor leans down to place another wet kiss on Oliver’s other cheek, and runs away to the kitchen quickly out of arm’s reach before the other man can smack him away.

“Stop that!” Oliver sputters, rubbing furiously at his face as Connor continues to find humor in the situation.

Connor continuously takes advantage of Oliver’s good graces that he doesn’t smack him in the face every time he does that. It was _one time_. One _freaking_ time that Connor helped him out with a favor that involved a peck on the lips, and now the man just won’t let it go.

It happened at a party almost a year ago. It was his senior year, and Oliver had just gone through a break up. Moping around the apartment and spending weekends in like a hermit was the usual for him at that point in time. Until one weekend, Connor somehow managed to drag him out to a friend’s house party. He’d had enough of his friend’s sulking.  

So there he was, standing on the back porch of a friend’s house, a bottle of barely touched beer in his hands and counting down the minutes until it reached a reasonable time to leave and no one would make a fuss about it. Connor had just turned to him, begging him to let loose, have a little fun, and forget all about Ryan. When as luck would have it, Oliver’s eyes landed on said ex-boyfriend standing in the dimly lit backyard, being awfully close to some good looking guy that had Oliver feeling like his heart just got swallowed up by his stomach.

“Ryan’s here,” Oliver whispered.

Connor’s eyes widened and he quickly glanced in the direction of Oliver’s eyes. “Don’t look at him!” He said when he’d turned his gaze back to Oliver.

Oliver feared he hadn’t snapped his eyes away quickly enough. “Oh god, I think he saw me staring,” Oliver whispered. “Oh please kill me now. What if he comes over?” Surely this was reason enough to call it an early night and head home, get back in his pajamas, crawl under the covers, and never come back out again.

“Oliver,” Connor said in a low voice. “Oliver, look at me.”

Oliver’s eyes met his best friend’s and he nearly jumped back in shock from how close they were. “What are you—”

Connor’s hand came up to rest gently on his upper arm. And Oliver’s eyes glanced down at the offending appendage in shock.

“Look at me. Look at me.” Connor whispered. “And now laugh like I said something funny.”

It took him a moment, but at Connor’s insistent look, Oliver let out a small laugh.  

Then somehow, Connor leaned even closer. “Is he watching?” He asked softly.

Oliver’s eyes swung around to the man in question, just briefly, just a mere second to see if— _holy hell_. “Yeah, he’s watching.”

“ _Look at me,_ ” Connor said. “ _Just me. And smile… softly… like I’m the only thing in this room worth looking at._ ”

Fuck.

Oliver took a shaky breath. His friend had always been gorgeous, but _this_ —this was the one thing he swore he’d never do. But it was _so_ easy to do as Connor asked and pretend they were what Oliver had always wanted—in love.

“Don’t freak out, okay?” Connor murmured. And he pressed their lips together in the softest kiss. Their eyes fluttered shut, and one of Connor’s hands came up to cup his cheek. It was a gentle kiss. No tongue. Just lips touching each other, bodies pressed close, and when they parted, Oliver drew a shaky breath that was filled with the scent of Connor’s cologne.

“Is Ryan still looking?”

_Ryan who?_

Oliver blinked. He looked around again, and sure enough, caught his ex-boyfriend walking away, a mixture of sadness and jealousy written on his face.

Connor grinned widely and swung his arm around Oliver’s shoulders. “Ha! I bet that felt good, huh?”

Oliver nodded. He still felt butterflies in his stomach, but not from seeing Ryan. And not from making his ex jealous either. “Thanks,” he said softly.

“What are best friends for?” Connor said gleefully.

So after that point, Oliver pretty much solely carried a torch for his clueless friend. On the bright side, he got over his break up pretty quickly after that.

Connor seems to get pretty comfortable kissing his best friend after that incident. Maybe it’s because he likes to see Oliver squirm. Maybe it’s because he finds it hilarious. But no matter what the situation is:

A flat tire…

“Thank you so much for picking me up, Ollie. I hit the fucking curb, and it was just—”

“It’s no problem, but don’t you have a spare?”

“A spare what?”

Oliver stares at him. “A spare… tire?”

Connor blinks. “Uh…”

Oliver rolls his eyes. “Oh my god. Pop the trunk.”

Lo and behold…

“Oh, a spare _tire_.”

“I’m assuming you don’t know how to change a tire either. It’s super easy. I’ll show you, just—”

_MUAH._

“What—what—” Oliver sputters senselessly. “Why did you kiss me?!”

Connor shrugs. “My knight in shining armor… My hero… It seemed like the right thing to do.”

Or an excess of alcohol…

“Michaela and I drank all your gin,” Connor slurs. “We’re so sorry.”

“I’m not sorry!” She interrupts.

“ _I_ am so sorry,” Connor corrects himself.

Oliver stares at them both. “It’s like four in the afternoon.”

“And we both aced our poly sci exam!”

“Wooooo!”

They both erupt in a fit of giggles while Oliver watches helplessly. “So you drank all my gin.”

“I’ll buy you a new bottle. I promised.” Connor stands shakily onto his feet and stumbles over to the other man.

_SMOOCH._

Oliver stumbles back a step. Connor’s lips mostly landed on his cheek, but the force of his own inertia has him stumbling into Oliver’s arms. On the couch, Michaela collapses in another fit of giggles.

Even so simple as a kiss goodbye…

“Out of my way! Out of my way! I overslept! I’m late for class!”

“Whoa—what—” Oliver was barely through the door when Connor attempted to squeeze past him. A single doorway is not much space for two grown men. “Connor, what are you—”

_MWAH._

“Bye!”

“What—” Oliver wipe his mouth his sleeve. “Why do you keep kissing me?!” He shouts after him.

 

“Oooh! Leftover pizza!”

“Go ahead. Help yourself,” Oliver says dryly. The other man is already taking a bite. “Is this what our relationship is now? You coming over and eating my food?”

Connor shrugs. “Maybe you shouldn’t have moved out. Then it would be our food.”

Oliver furrows his brow. “That’s never how it worked!”

Connor snorts and continues to shove the pizza slice into his mouth. “Whatever. You’re the one with the big, fancy job. And I’m still a broke college student. I think you can afford to feed your friend every once in a while.”

Oliver rolls his eyes, pretending to be exasperated, even though the truth is he couldn’t care less about a few slices of pizza. Honestly, he was a little concerned about moving out of the apartment he shared with Connor and two of their other close friends. He was graduating, and it just seemed the right thing to do at the time. But he was worried about losing contact with his friends, most of whom still had a year left—especially Connor.

But clearly he had nothing to worry about. His job was only thirty minutes away, and they still see each other all the time, especially on the weekends.

Connor suddenly lets out a dramatic gasp. He’s staring at the sink full of dirty dishes. “What’s this?” He gasps. “Oliver! You didn’t do your dishes?!”

“Oh give me a break! I live alone! I should be able to do my dishes any time I want!”

Connor raises an elegant eyebrow and shakes his head disappointedly. “Shame on you.”

Oliver groans, but there’s a twinkle of laughter in his eyes that Connor mirrors, because they’re both thinking of the same incident that happened the last year they lived together.

 

_Connor—the slob that he is—never does his dishes right away. And while Wes and Kan don’t seem to care too much about the sink full of their roommate’s dirty dishes, Oliver certainly does._

_“Connor, would you do your damn dishes?!!”_

_“What? They’ve only been there like… a day or two!”_

_“They’ve been here a week!” Oliver hisses. “I wanted to use the nonstick pan, but I can’t! Because it’s in the sink! How about some silverware? Nope! All dirty! I can’t even wash my own dishes, because the damn sink is completely full!”_

_“Alright! Jeez—”_

_“You do this every time, Connor! I’ve been putting up with it for three damn years and you never listen to me!”_

_“I will do my dishes, now would you shut up about it—”_

_“No, I will not—” Oliver breaks off with an incoherent choking noise when Connor presses their lips together, for not one… not two… but three whole seconds._

_Connor’s eyes are wide and innocent when they part. Like what he did was nothing out of the ordinary._

_“Stop kissing me!” Oliver hisses._

_Connor shrugs nonchalantly, his eyes shifting from side to side like the annoying little brat he is. “Do you want me to stop kissing you, or do you want me to do the dishes?” He alternates his hands up and down like a scale. “Come on, you’ve got to pick one…”_

_“Stop changing the subject! I’m still mad about the dishes! They’re disgusting!”_

_“Alright, alright! I’ll do the dishes!”_

“I’ve actually started doing my dishes right away, you know.”

Oliver snorts. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Hey, you think I’m bad? When you moved out, and _doucheface_ moved in—he’s even worse than me!”

“I’m sure he’s not that bad.”

“He’s awful,” Connor mutters. “Why did you move out anyway? It’s like the same distance to work. You could have stayed with us for another year.”

Oliver shrugs. “I don’t know. I was graduating… I just… felt like I needed a change.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Connor says, deadpan. “You just think us ‘college kids’ are too immature for you!”

Oliver grins and nods his head. “Yeah, you got me. You bunch of hooligans, partying every weekend, staying up ’til all hours of the morning. I couldn’t live with that anymore.”

“I knew it,” Connor growls. “You think you’re too good for us.”

Oliver smirks. He knows Connor is just joking around. Just like Connor knew not to take it personally when Oliver said he wanted to move out at the end of the last school year. But the truth is, getting a nicer, bigger apartment all to himself was really just half of it. He was hoping some separation from Connor would help with those pesky little feelings he’d developed.

Well. It didn’t.

The only thing that improved was less time spent around Connor meant fewer of those damn kisses from him. After all, the day he moved out still takes the cake.

 

_“What the fuck, Connor!” Oliver tries to pull the other man’s arms off of him._

_“You’re my best friend, Ollie! I’m going to miss you!” Connor tries to come in for another._

_“We’ll still see each other all the time—I’m moving thirty minutes away—would you stop kissing me?!”_

_Somehow in their tussle, Connor manages to land a kiss right on Oliver’s nose, and that seems to placate him for the time being._

_Oliver sends him a glare that Connor really feels is disproportionate to the situation._

A cell phone ring tone brings Oliver out of his thoughts.

“Hello?” Connor answers. “Hey, mom!” He’s silent for a moment as he listens to the line. “Oh.”

Oliver straightens when he notices a change in Connor’s demeanor.

“Um, yeah… Yeah, I can do that… Sure… Yeah, I’ll—I’ll see you soon… Bye.”

Oliver knows immediately from the sound of the other man’s voice that something is wrong. He stands and quickly walks over to the other man. “Connor, what’s wrong?”

“Um…” Connor bites his lip but doesn’t meet his eyes. It might be the first time in the history of their friendship that he can’t meet Oliver’s eyes. “My uh… my grandma died.”

Oliver’s jaw drops. He can see tears begging to form in the younger man’s eyes, and he’s suddenly at a loss for what to do. He knows that Connor was close to his grandmother. He and his sister were practically raised by her, as his single mother worked.

“I have to uh… I—I have to go home—b-back to Michigan, for a few days probably.” Connor mumbles. He looks around the room, looking a bit lost, and he runs his hands through his hair, still holding onto his phone. “Shit my classes—”

“Connor…” Oliver says softly.

“I’m going to miss so much work,” Connor moans.

“It’s okay, Connor—”

“I—I should probably email my professors—push back my exams or something—”

Without thinking, Oliver closes the space between them with a kiss. It’s not a quick one. It’s slow and gentle, and by the end of it, somehow he’s got his arms wrapped around the other man, and if it weren’t for the tragedy of the situation it would be _perfect_.

“You kissed me,” Connor mumbles when they finally part.

“Yeah… I did,” Oliver says softly.

Connor swallows the lump in his throat as he breathily gazes at the other man. “You’ve never done that before.”

Oliver’s kind of in shock himself. He just kissed Connor. He simply shakes his head. “Nope.”

“It took you long enough, _asshole!_ ” Connor smacks him on the arm.

“What?!”

“Do you know how long I’ve waited—do you have any idea how much I’ve wanted—all those times I—I can’t even—” Connor’s voice trails off as he lets out a choked sob.

“Oh. Oh, Connor!” Oliver quickly pulls the other man into his arms and lets him sob onto his shoulder. “I’m so sorry about your grandmother. Do you… do you want me to come home with you?”

Connor sniffs as he lifts his head, wiping away a few tears that had fallen. “Can you take the time off work?”

“Of course I can,” Oliver murmurs. “What are best friends for, huh?”

Connor manages a small hint of a smile. “Thank you,” he says softly, and returns his head to rest on Oliver’s shoulder as the other man holds him and gently rubs a hand on his back.

“So… all those times you kissed me…”

“Yup.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m an idiot.”

“Yes, you are.”

**Author's Note:**

> [x](http://winters-blue-children.tumblr.com)


End file.
